TIRUNELVELI : The final ball of the innings. Chepauk Super Gillies’ M Siddarth chips it in the air to the on side. KB Arun Karthik runs from long-on, dives forward and takes a stunning catch. He then punches the air, runs towards his teammates, high-fives them and shouts in joy.Siechem Madurai Panthers finally broke their jinx. Their first victory in 16 matches. First in three seasons of the Tamil Nadu Premier League. The win was all the more creditable considering it came defending a seemingly below-par total of 153. For former Madurai skipper Karthik, it was the moment he had waited for such a long time.
For a team which had never defended a target, be it 189 or 117, there were doubts if they could defend this on Monday after posting a moderate total. Madurai bowlers had a nightmarish run last season, where they ended up taking only 27 wickets — the lowest by a team. But they showed they have the stomach to prove critics wrong. The young and experienced spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Rahil Shah successfully defended the low score.
Mystery spinner Varun bamboozled Chepauk’s batsmen and picked up three wickets for 16 runs. The variations that Varun offered — leg-cutter, off-spin and floater — made it difficult for batsmen to read him. Madurai’s assistant coach R Sriram had praised Varun’s ability recently. “He is a different bowler. Even our guys find it difficult to read his variations while facing him during practice. He can be our USP this season.”
On the other end, the experienced Shah bowled a lot of full-length deliveries, which fetched him three wickets for 27 runs. Though Chepauk had lost only two wickets after 10 overs, the 10-minute rain interruption had an impact on the defending champions as they found it difficult to score at ease. That helped the Madurai spinners attack the opponent and they kept taking wickets in regular intervals.
Madurai’s R Karthikeyan credits this performance to a proper bowling strategy devised ahead of the game. “Finding the right combination was important to win as a team,” said the left-arm spinner, who didn’t bowl on Monday. “I think this time that’s what we have done. The pair of Rahil and Varun bowled in tandem to contain. It was not easy to bat on this pitch. It was offering grip to the spinners. So we were able to get the better of the Chepauk team. But also we felt they batted slowly after 10 overs despite having wickets in hand. That’s when we started thinking that we can really win this match.”
srinidhi@newindianexpress.com
Brief scores
Siechem Madurai Panthers 153/9 in 20 ovs (Koushik 37, Shijit 37; M Ashwin 3/24, Sunny 3/29) bt Chepauk Super Gillies 127 in 20 ovs (Varun 3/16, Rahil 3/27).